The Coinage Act: A Brief Biography Of Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton was a huge figure in economics. He not only was a member of the Continental Congress and founded the first national bank, but he also authorized the first national U.S. Mint. The Mint was very essential for America and the people because it distributed the United States currency. The money was distributed through the Federal Reserve Banks. The Coinage Act was the reason the United States National Mint received a manufacturing building. This was the first federal building authorized under the Constitution. The metal used to create the first coins at the Mint came from George Washington's household goods. Washington strongly wanted the Mint to succeed. Today, the Mint sends out all U.S. coins for the people to have access to

Shortly after, the use of silver was no longer in circulation and gold became the standard usage for currency. Gold discoveries drove down the value of gold, which pushed small silver coins out of circulation. The gold influx made silver unavailable for public use. In order for silver to remain in the money system, the small coins were reduced in value. The Gold Standard Act of 1890 made gold the main source of currency for the United States. The United States government was convinced that using greenbacks during the Civil War would decrease the chance of debt, so they issued $450 million in greenbacks. Because of the success of the greenbacks, after the war the debtors wanted the greenbacks to remain in the money system. Conservative forces believed that all paper currency should be backed by gold for the sake of paper currency to flourish. The Funding Act of 1866 caused greenbacks to reduce to $356 million two years after the act was passed. President Grant vetoed the Inflation Bill because he hopes to increase the circulation of greenbacks permanently to $400 million.The Treasury had a limit of $150 million in gold reserves. As a result of the act, silver would now serve as a standard, but gold would remain as the

Because the Civil War used both gold and silver as acceptable money throughout the war, complications arose. In the eighteenth century; silver coins began to be exercised less, which led to gold becoming the preferred standard. Although gold was seen as the standard of money, during June of 1933, the United States stopped issuing gold as the standard. This happened due to Congress ending the right of creditors to demand gold as a payment method. After the Great Depression and World War II, new systems in which currency rates would be tied to the U.S and gold was required. Under this system, availability to trade with other countries were put into consideration. In order to make this action happen, the government made dollars redeemable for gold by both America and other foreign countries. This new system worked until 1971 when the gold standard was officially stopped. Once banks began to fail during the Great Depression, the public started to grow scared, which led them to hoard gold. In order to prevent consumer banks from distributing too much gold and silver, Roosevelt announced a nationwide bank holiday and did not allow banks to hand out gold or silver. Silver could no longer be converted into dollars on August 15, 1971, declared by President Richard Nixon. Over the period 1967-1973, the United States dissolved its commitment of converting